Nepotism and all that

Today I am fed up with the publishing world. It is a Londoncentric, navel-gazing world that deserves to implode. Perhaps then out of the ashes will rise a clean, new model for book publishing.

Why, you might ask, am I so jaded? Is it because nobody embraces my Nod offs and puts them on bookshelves where customers who want to buy them can find them? The answer is partly yes. For here is a product that consumers want to buy. It is something that will help them expand their understanding. They are packaged to look gorgeous. They are designed for ease of use. And to cap it all, they give you a bloody good night's sleep. How do I know this? Have I spent lots of money on market research and consultants? No, the reason I know is because people want to learn languages (from my 15 years working on language stuff at Collins). They want to know how the language works but they don't want a boring old grammar book that will just make them feel more inadequate. I have stumped up the money to put them together and while I may fail them because of being unable to get them into bookshops, the Nod off themselves are a triumph of creativity, commonsense and fun. Something which McGraw-Hill in the States have picked up on.

Getting something novel (no pun intended) past the guards to the bookshelves of the big chains (namely the centralised book buyers) is a feat in itself. How WH Smith even survive is beyond me with their predictable, tired stock. And WH Smith Travel are only going to stock Penguin Travel Guides in their travel bookshops (airports, stations, etc). This is outrageous, lazy and mean-spirited (Penguin give them an eye-watering 72% discount and money up front according to the Bookseller).

Meanwhile the publishing houses are a den of nepotism. That is why so much of it is based in London. Many of the big cheeses in publishing are married to each other. Take publishing out of London and how will they jump on and off the merry-go-round of top jobs?

It turns out from reading the Bookseller that Anthony Cheetham is married to Georgina Capel (of Capel and Land) and many of the Quercus authors are with this literary agency and Quercus has paid over a £1m to this agency.

And Louis Baum former editor of The Bookseller, married to Liz Calder (co-founder of Bloomsbury) are to set up a publishing house together.

Amanda Ross (of Richard and Judy Book Club) fame turned out to be married to Jonathan Ross's brother. When this year's Summer book read was revealed earlier this year this quote appeared in the Bookseller article:

Cactus TV m.d. Amanda Ross said, "Each year as the standard of books is so high, I worry that we can maintain our success rate. My husband and business partner Simon Ross is my harshest critic, but he thinks this year's bunch are the best yet, and couldn't put them down when we took them on our Easter break."

At the time, I wondered why on earth her husband was reading the books and why his opinion mattered. I hadn't realised he was part of the Ross dynasty.

The Bookseller should do a 'Connections' map of the Publishing World (a bit like BBC Comedy Connections). It would be fascinating. It might also explain why some books get that 'lucky' break and some don't.

Rant, moi?